First in scoring

Chapter 71 70. Transition season?

It was amazing that DeRozan surpassed Collison, who was two years older than him, but he was already well-known as the "former No. 1 junior high school student in California" and "the strongest newcomer in California", so it was not particularly shocking that he improved beyond expectations.

There have been even more exaggerated cases than this. In his 9th grade season, LeBron James could only help his seniors, averaging 18 points and 6 rebounds per game. In his 10th grade, his strength improved by leaps and bounds, averaging 25 points, 7 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3.8 steals per game. He was directly picked out by the Associated Press for "cross-grade comparisons". In the 10th grade, he was ranked fifth in the United States among the 12th grade players, and was selected to the high school basketball All-American team in his 10th grade.

It can only be said that they still underestimated DeRozan's talent. For other talented high school students, being in the top 100 in the United States is the goal and being a five-star high school student is the dream. But for this one, being a five-star high school student is just the basics.

Zhang Yang's move really shocked them!

They have investigated the past performance of the main players of Compton High School, and Zhang Yang has actually entered their field of vision, but in their eyes, Zhang Yang is at the same level as Tatum, better than first-class talents but not at the top level, worthy of an invitation but not necessarily a scholarship.

因为两人上赛季在南加州联赛的数据差不多，张杨场均18+7+2+2+1，塔图姆场均15+5+8+2+1，张杨数据没那么全面但命中率高一些，赛季平均表现基本五五开。

Today, Tatum scored 7 points and 8 assists, which was pretty much what professionals expected. He was already a qualified starter in the CIF Division I league in his 11th grade, but he is not capable of performing like a star for the time being.

Zhang Yang is different, his performance far exceeded expectations!
Obviously, they had not learned about the changes in Zhang Yang's statistics from the 20 league games last season, nor had they looked at the statistics from the 'Championship Game' stage which was not included in the season average statistics...

Zhang Yang showed a very rich scoring method in this game, including off-ball mid-range shots, attacking the basket, three-pointers, counterattacks, dribbling, counterattacks, pick-and-rolls... The key is that his defensive awareness is still very good. He can block from one to three from the outside, and even retreated to give the opponent three blocks!
In his first match with the main team, he scored 28 points and blocked 3 shots. Zhang San smiled slightly. He has won the attention of the scouts...

...

After a successful first battle, Zhang Yang felt the changes in his teammates the next afternoon.

Last week, when the teammates talked about the upcoming match against Long Beach High School during training, the topic was always about the ranking of Long Beach High School. When Collison was not yet 17 years old in the summer, he was ranked 99th in the United States...

Today, when teammates talked about Wednesday's opponent Glendale High School, the topic became who was stronger between him or DeRozan and who from Glendale High School, whether they could win, and which tactic was the most comfortable yesterday and whether it could be used the day after tomorrow...

My mentality has completely changed! My confidence has skyrocketed!

With such a big change in the mentality of the teammates, will they be overconfident and affect the next game? Zhang Yang doesn't care. He is only responsible for helping his teammates build up their confidence. The rest is the work of captain Miller and head coach Thomas.

And in his opinion, in high school competitions, confidence and drive are more important than being calm.

His teammates' confidence comes from his and DeRozan's performance. What he should focus on is to maintain his outstanding performance and continue to support his teammates' confidence.

On Wednesday morning at 9 o'clock, Zhang Yang took Thomas' car to the parking lot to meet his teammates, and then took the school bus to Glendale, a small mountain town east of Los Angeles.

Glendale is one of the cities with the best climate in Los Angeles County. Its living environment is comparable to that of Hidden Hills. However, due to its location in a mountainous area, environmental protection organizations do not allow over-development, so the real estate industry cannot be developed. However, the tourism industry is very prosperous. Unlike the skyscrapers in Los Angeles and the pastoral scenery in Hidden Hills, the mountain environment here is beautiful.

However, Zhang Yang did not have the opportunity to enjoy the scenery this time. He slept for an hour in the car. After arriving at Glendale High School, he washed his face with cold water to refresh himself and then began to prepare for the game with the team. After the game in the afternoon, he had to return to Compton. For the games in the league stage, he basically had to go back and forth on the same day.

At 2 p.m., the game between Compton High School and Glendale High School started.

Glendale High School ranks in the upper-middle level of the Third District. It does not have any 12th grade players ranked in the top 04 in the United States. That is not easy to come by. Among the top 11 players in the class, there are only in all high schools in California.

However, Glendale High School is only stronger than Long Beach Middle School. This team has mostly white players, including 9 12th grade players, who have more game experience, good tactical coordination, and strong shooting ability.

The tactical coordination ability that Compton High School was proud of did not give it an advantage against Glendale High School.

Moreover, except for Zhang Yang, DeRozan and Miller, the other players of Compton High School are generally not as strong as their opponents, including Tatum. Although Glendale High School does not have top players, almost all of its players are first-class masters.

At this time, Compton High School’s high confidence played an important role!
If they were as nervous as they were against Long Beach High School last Sunday, they might have been beaten by Glendale High School, which had excellent teamwork. Facing the strong performance of Glendale High School, Tatum, Monroe, Keefe, Kanter...all chose to fight hard and try their best to help Zhang Yang and DeRozan.

They have been mentally prepared for the fact that their personal abilities are inferior to those of their opponents. Their confidence comes from these two people. As long as these two people perform well, their confidence will not wane and their drive will not be interrupted!

With the help of their teammates, Zhang Yang, DeRozan and Miller led the team to a back-and-forth battle with Glendale High School in regular time, with the score taking turns leading and the stalemate lasting until the last moment.

At the critical moment, Glendale High School failed to perform well, and no one could guarantee a shot would be made at the critical moment.

On the Compton High School side, DeRozan made two consecutive quick-stop mid-range shots and passed the ball to Zhang Yang, who received the ball and made a layup, making the score 6 to 2 at the critical moment.

最终，靠着德罗赞27分3板7助攻2抢断、张杨29分11板1助攻2抢断1盖帽、米勒15分10板2盖帽，康普敦高中以107比102险胜格兰岱尔高中！

Glendale High School's basketball stadium has only 500 seats, half the number of seats as Compton High School's gymnasium, but more college scouts come to the scene.

All the scouts who came felt that their trip was worthwhile!

As rumored, DeRozan is more talented than expected! His progress in the past six months has far exceeded expectations!
The news that was circulated in the college scout community a few days ago was also true. The former baseball player from the mysterious East had made even more dramatic progress! The scouts all thought they had discovered a treasure that no one else knew about... and then they noticed many of their peers in the audience, Fake!
A single old man longs for an old lady, a scout longs for his colleagues...

...

In the competition among stars, Ronaldinho and Zhang San overwhelmed the top 12 th grade players in the United States. If they followed up and attacked, they could win the game. In the competition among teams, as long as they tried their best to help Ronaldinho, Zhang San, Miller and other advantageous players to drag the game to the critical moment, Ronaldinho and Zhang San could stand up and kill the game... The confidence of the teammates continued to rise!

Over the next three weeks, Compton High School played six more warm-up games.

到了10月13号，星期三，康普敦高中主场以102比89击败法玛尔毕业后实力大跌的圣芭芭拉高中，热身赛阶段的战绩定格在6胜2负。

The team performed far better than Thomas expected, and he felt the same way Johnson did last year.

Even though he had greatly raised his expectations for Zhang Yang and DeRozan, their performance still exceeded his imagination!
8场热身赛，德罗赞场均25.5分3.6板6助攻1.6抢断，张杨场均26分9板1.6助攻2.4抢断1.6盖帽。

Although it is just a warm-up match and it will be difficult to maintain this performance in the official game, but with the talents of the two, Thomas believes that their performance in the official game will not be bad!
Led by the two, the other players continued to maintain high confidence and an indomitable drive during the warm-up match. Even if they lost, their confidence was not dampened. Thomas also realized that the players' confidence came from Zhang Yang and DeRozan. As long as the two continue to perform well, the players' confidence will remain.

High confidence is of great help in the game. Tactical running is more firm, shooting is more decisive, and there is no panic when falling behind... Of course, there will be times when it has the opposite effect, but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages.

They played with confidence from the very beginning, which accelerated the players' adaptation to the intensity of CIF Level 1 competition and helped them become more familiar with how to assist Zhang Yang and DeRozan in the new environment.

At the end of last season, Thomas' expectation for the new season was to have an acceptable record that was not too bad, train a few 10th and 11th grade players well, have a transition year, and then launch a new attack towards the top of California in the 05-06 season.

After the main team selection phase, Thomas adjusted his expectations and perhaps had a mixed season.

Now, after four weeks of warm-up games, Thomas has adjusted his expectations again - why can't the transition season make it to the championship? Last season, Shipp and Afflalo were both selected to the California First Team, so why can't DeRozan, a 4th grader, and Zhang Yang, a 10th grader, be selected?

……

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(End of this chapter)